Headset maker Plantronics thinks it can limit its exposure to Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports because “we really source our products quite globally,” said CEO Joe Burton on an earnings call last week. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is proposing a third tranche of 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, including goods imported under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8517.62.00 subheading, which covers Bluetooth headphones (see 1807300002). Plantronics sources a “substantial amount” of its products from Mexico, said Burton. “We do have some in China, but some in many other countries around the world as well.” The impact to Plantronics “obviously” will depend on the “final list of products” for which tariffs get imposed, as well as “the specific rates and implementation timing, which I think is all open at this point,” said Chief Financial Officer Pam Strayer. “We are watching it carefully and to prepare for it, we are looking at alternatives in our supply chain.” The company is “in a good position because we have a manufacturing facility in Mexico,” she said. “It does allow us to potentially reduce some of the impact.”

The proposed third tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports targets equipment “critical for the build-out” of 5G, IoT and “big data,” says K.C. Swanson, Telecommunications Industry Association director-global policy, in prehearing testimony posted Monday in docket USTR-2018-0026.

The proposed third tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports targets equipment “critical for the build-out” of 5G mobile phone technology, the Internet of Things and “big data,” according to K.C. Swanson, Telecommunications Industry Association director-global policy, in prehearing testimony posted in docket USTR-2018-0026. Though the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hasn’t released a schedule of witnesses to testify at four days of public hearings on the tariffs beginning Aug. 20, Swanson is scheduled to testify Aug. 21, she said. Requests to testify were due Aug. 13 under the deadline USTR Robert Lighthizer extended from July 27 when he announced Aug. 1 he will “consider,” under President Donald Trump’s direction, raising the third tranche of proposed duties to 25 percent from 10 percent (see 1808010070).

Dish Network wants nine tariff lines removed from the proposed third tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties on Chinese imports (see 1808010018) because the products they cover “are critical elements of providing our pay-TV service, including to customers in rural America,” said Jeffrey Blum, senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, in a letter Thursday to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, posted Friday in docket USTR-2018-0026.

Imports at the major U.S. retail container ports set record highs in June and July and appear poised to set a third in August, said the National Retail Federation Thursday. It’s all the result of retail sales rising and retailers “rushing to bring merchandise into the country” ahead of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said NRF. After U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer put a first tranche of 25 percent tariffs into effect July 6 on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods (see 1806150030), his office finalized a second to take effect Aug. 23 on $16 billion worth (see 1808080028) and last week put out for comment a proposal to hike the duty rate to 25 percent from 10 percent on a third tranche of goods worth about $200 billion (see 1808010018). “Tariffs on most consumer products have yet to take effect but retailers appear to be getting prepared before that can happen,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “We’re seeing new record levels every month this summer. Much of that is to meet consumer demand as tax reform and a thriving economy drive retail sales, but part of it seems to be concern over what’s to come. The good news for consumers is that avoiding tariffs holds off price increases that will inevitably come if the reckless and misguided trade war is allowed to continue.” U.S. ports handled 1.85 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in June, a 7.8 percent increase from the same month a year earlier, said NRF. It estimates ports handled 1.88 million containers in July, a 4.4 percent increase year-over-year, and forecasts August container imports will be up 4.4 percent to 1.91 million, it said. “The volatility and non-fact-based decisions coming from Washington have created uncertainty" in the retail sector, said Hackett Associates, the contractor that compiled the port-tracking statistics for NRF.

Imports at the major U.S. retail container ports set record highs in June and July and appear poised to set a third in August, the National Retail Federation said in an Aug. 9 news release. It’s all the result of retail sales rising and retailers “rushing to bring merchandise into the country” ahead of the proposed Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of products from China, NRF said. “Tariffs on most consumer products have yet to take effect but retailers appear to be getting prepared before that can happen,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “We’re seeing new record levels every month this summer. Much of that is to meet consumer demand as tax reform and a thriving economy drive retail sales, but part of it seems to be concern over what’s to come. The good news for consumers is that avoiding tariffs holds off price increases that will inevitably come if the reckless and misguided trade war is allowed to continue.” U.S. ports handled 1.85 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in June, a 7.8 percent increase from the same month a year earlier, NRF said, citing its own Global Port Tracker report. It estimates ports handled 1.88 million containers in July, a 4.4 percent increase year-over-year, and forecasts August container imports will be up 4.4 percent to 1.91 million, it said. “The volatility and non-fact-based decisions coming from Washington have created uncertainty" in the retail sector, said Hackett Associates, the contractor that compiled the port-tracking statistics for NRF.

A recent Agriculture Department report lists the specific food and agriculture tariff lines included in planned new Chinese tariffs (see 1808030013). "The supplementary tariffs are primarily on products which had not been previously impacted by the [Sections] 232 and 301 initial retaliatory duties, with the exception of eight [Harmonized System] codes," the USDA said in its Global Agricultural Information Network report. The new tariffs would apply in addition to the previously imposed retaliatory tariffs, it said. The new tariffs were announced in response to proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods under Section 301 (see 1808010070).

Tech interests virtually struck out in their attempts to persuade U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to spare their products and components from a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. Despite heavy industry lobbying to exclude semiconductors and other key parts from the second round of new levies, the list Lighthizer released Tuesday contains 279 tariff lines of goods worth about $16 billion in trade value, a mere 2 percent reduction from 284 lines in the originally proposed list released June 15 (see 1806150030). The new tariffs will take effect Aug. 23, said Lighthizer, who soon will announce a "process" for seeking exclusions from the new duties.

Element Electronics, in an emailed statement Tuesday, stopped well short of committing to close its Winnsboro, South Carolina, LCD TV assembly factory to escape the higher costs of the 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on LCD panel imports from China being proposed on a third tranche of duties. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its final list Tuesday in the second tranche of 25 percent duties, those to take effect Aug. 23 (see 1808080028). A Columbia, South Carolina, newspaper reported Tuesday that Element will close the plant in October and terminate its remaining 126 employees (see 1808070010). The “teammates” who work at Winnsboro “are at risk of layoff as a result of the trade-war related tariffs on our television parts,” said Element in the statement. “As we are the only USA assembler of televisions, we believe the inclusion of our parts on the list of affected products is accidental and resolvable.” Element is “working hard to have our parts removed from the tariff list and we remain hopeful that the closure of our South Carolina factory will be avoided,” said the company. “Until then, everyone at Element, especially the potentially impacted teammates at the factory, are completely committed to business-as-usual at an otherwise thriving Element.” Just "simply the announcement" July 10 of the proposed tariffs on LCD panels from China “triggered the need” for immediate factory cutbacks because of the likely impact the duties would have on the supply chain, said Element last month (see 1807200056).

Tech interests virtually struck out in their attempts to persuade U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to spare their products and components from a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. Despite heavy industry lobbying to exclude semiconductors and other key parts from the second round of new levies, the list Lighthizer released Tuesday contains 279 tariff lines of goods worth about $16 billion in trade value, a mere 2 percent reduction from 284 lines in the originally proposed list released June 15 (see 1806150030). The new tariffs will take effect Aug. 23, said Lighthizer, who soon will announce a "process" for seeking exclusions from the new duties.